I will warn everyone, this entry will probably be either the longest entry I've ever written, or the the longest entry you've ever read..or both. I wouldn't call my trip to New York City a vacation, it was much more than that for me. It was a lesson, I guess, in the way that it taught me things about myself. But enough about that, I'll get to it later, let's begin this adventure: On Wednesday, the 24th, I woke up hardly feeling any different than I normally do. I got up, took a shower, dried my hair, etc. and then met Catherine and Hannah at Starbucks. It felt pretty normal really, but I guess it was the meaning behind the day that mattered, that made things different, it was the day I would go to New York City..the day I had imagined since Heaven knows when. At Starbucks, Cate and Hannah taught me certain ways to pronounce things, not to order tea, where to go, what to do, and then they emptied their wallets for random things to give me. My purse became stuffed with a hammer keychain, receipts, cards, and my eye shadow case was decorated with Disney stickers. We went to Chick-Fil-A/Mcdonalds where my mom picked me up. They handed me my letters to read on the airplane, and I got two quick hugs. How silly..a goodbye meeting when I'd only be gone for 4 days, but it felt right. When my mother and I arrived at the Columbia Airport, I was reminded that I was going to NYC, and that in a few hours, I would be seeing Emily once again. Time dragged on as I tried to find things to do. I checked the screen thing to make sure both of our planes were still on schedule, and then took my seat. As the lady announced that the plane from Washington had arrived, I knew Emily was there. She called me on her phone, trying to figure out where I was, but I already saw her. She was facing the other way as she was coming up the escalator. I got up, and kept her on the phone, and right as she turned around I was standing there. After recieving the most powerful hug ever, she handed me my airplane letter(which was addressed Lori the Astonishing) and a NYU newspaper. We said goodbye after getting our picture. This goodbye hardly felt sad, like the one at the end of the summer, simply because we will see eachother over Christmas break. My flight was delayed 3 and a half hours, you can only imagine how antsy I became. But when it was time to board the plane, my excitment was re-sparked. My mother gave me the tranquilizer so I wouldn't have a heart attack on the plane(for those of you who live under a rock, I'm REALLY scared of flying). Once we were up in the air, I got out my three "packages" from Cate, Hannah, and Emily. I opened Hannah's first because it was the biggest haha. Before I finished untying the little knot, a book and cd case slipped into my lap. I turned the book over, and it was Little Women, and the cd was all the bootlegs and clips of Little Women music. It was truly meaningful, as were the notes. Catherine's notes were much more on the entertaining side, and Emily's was exciting because it told me things to do in New York, and stuff like that. Fortunatly, I slept for most of the flight, except for the end, when our plane did this sudden see-saw movement about 6 times in a row, and our pilot came on saying we were a mile too close the plane ahead of us. Of course, they fixed it, but you can imagine my dramatic reaction haha. When we landed, it was night, and I was ready to see the city, even though the medicine had left me feeling "hung over" and exhausted. We got our stuff, and hopped into a town car. The ride there was at first disapointing. I saw nothing exciting, I was waiting, and a little bit of me felt that maybe I had maybe overestimated the coolness of NYC. But the second we passed a huge sign for Hairspray, and then Wicked. I knew, it was very well the NYC I had dreamt of. Our hotel, The Michaelangelo, was on 51st Street and Broadway. I think that's right. From our hotel room, I could see the Winter Garden Theatre(Mamma Mia is currently playing there), a gift shop, a deli, and a sign with lights around it advertising Elf on dvd. I rushed my mother to get prepared for dinner so I could see the city. No not see it..feel it. The weather wasn't great that night, but I insisted we walk. Before we arrived at the restaurant of our choice, I saw it. The Virginia Theatre. I didn't tell my mom we were turning right, I just did. I sped up the pace of our walk, and once we arrived there, I just gasped. I got close to the door, and put my hands up to make the glare disapear. It's true, in the lobby, you can see the props and costumes of Little Women. I attempted to take pictures, but the window prevented them from showing up. I made my mom stay there for awhile as I just stared, trying to pick our familiar things...the kite Jo and Beth flew during Some Things are Meant to Be, Amy's sketchbook, and so much more. There was also a big poster with a collage of Little Women pictures, which I did get pictures of. My stomach started to growl, so I pulled myself from the theatre, and went to eat at the Red Eye Grill(our hotel suggested it). I ordered a Dr.Pepper, but they didn't have it, so I got coke instead. They didn't just bring me a glass, they also brought my a pitcher to refill it myself. I thought it was quite cool. I had a hamburger, which was delicous. As we finished up our meal, it started to rain, and I saw all the New Yorkers that were outside open up there umbrellas and run. Oh yeah, this restaurant had a live band with a celloist which reminded me of Cate. After that, we just walked around and enjoyed the city. My mom suggested walking through Times Square, but the medicine had really had an effect on me, so we went back to the hotel and slept. That morning, Thanksgiving, I woke up to cabs honking their horns, something I had looked forward to. We turned on our tv, and watched some of the parade as we got ready. Then, we went outside to see it live. In my opinin, the parade is much better on tv. It's really hard to see over a crowd, and if you think about it, you can hear and see better in the comfort of your own home. To me, the parade had been overrated. That day, a lot of the stores were closed, but we did go into Virgin Records. I couldn't believe I was in a store that had 3 floors. I bought a subway themed tshirt and the Chicago cast recording. That was one of my sickest days, and I think it rained, but I don't remember. I just remmeber sleeping the whole day and taking a lot of medicine. That night, we saw Chicago. Our seats were amazing, 7th row, I believe. I enjoyed the cast, and almost died when I found out "mama" was being played by the orginal Ms.Flannery from Thoroughly Modern Millie. That means she was in it with Sutton. woot woot. My mom didn't like Chicago the show as much as the movie. I did though. I mean, the movie just has more special effects, and "bigness" to it. The stage production is just very..almost intimate. Because of the Holidays, Broadway shows auctioned off things for money for Broadway Cares. From Chicago, I got the signed poster. Oh yes, before I go to the next subject, one thing I really liked about this show was that during a scene with just Roxie(right before the song "Roxie") the girl that played here was sort of involving the audience and she looked at these two people on the other side and was like "Well, hello little girls in the second row, you shouldn't be here" and she asked how old they were and tehy said 12 and she said oh thats ok then, and then went back into character about how Amos was in bed. haha. I just thought that was cool. After that show, we went to the hotel to sleep haha. The next day was Friday. We ate lunch at Sardi's which is a restaurant with charactures of stars on the walls. I tried to be nonchalant as I searched for Kristin Chenoweth's, but I couldn't find it. We ate early though, so it was quite in there. I had a turkey club and it was really good.I also bought a tshirt that said Sardi's on it. That afternoon, we saw Phantom of the Opera. That was my first Broadway show ever, and it was cool to see it again. It's so timeless, you could see it every year really. Just such beautiful singing. I got a signed poster from them too. I had to sleep before that evening because of my illness(damn getting sick!). This next part will be the most important you will read...well one of the most important. That night, we saw Wicked. Around mid-late May rehearsals for Bye Bye Birdie had become longer, and more frequent. This was when I started to hear the more current Broadway songs(only ones I had really known were like Phantom, Annie, stuff like that). One of the songs I heard a lot from my cast mates, and liked was "Popular". I was still too shy to ask what it was from, so I tried to find it online, but I guess I looked in the wrong places. Then I went to Angela's Tony Party, and saw Wicked on the Tony's and then I heard Hannah and Catherine(whom was a stranger at the time) sing "Pop-u-lar" and I connected the puzzle that it too was from Wicked. So a few days later, I purchased Wicked and Bye Bye Birdie. Wicked had become my favorite, I listened to it everyday,and now I listen to almost every single song excluding Something Bad on it. Enough of this, let me talk about the actual show. We walked into the Gershwin Theatre, which is by far my fave because it was so decorated(green carpet, the clock thingy, etc.) Our seats were amazing(we were in Orchestra section) and as I sat down and saw the huge map of Oz on stage, I knew I was in for one of the biggest rides of my life. When it was finally time, I felt my heart pounding. The orchestra began, the green lights came on, the Ozians came out, and finally Galinda arrived by her bubble. Everyone knows I wanted to see Kristin Chenoweth, but she left in July, and I was distressed. Jennifer Laura Thompson really impressed me. From far away, she didn't really appear much different from Kristin, the only different was really her voice, but she was talented. When Idina Menzel came on, I heard all the other theatrics scream for her. Everyone else was sort of like "hmm" and then I heard some people whisper "I think that's the girl who won the tony award". When Wizard and I began, I crossed my fingers praying she would hit those notes the way I wanted her too. When the last part of the song came in, and her pitch was actually perfect(yes Idina with perfect pitch..shocking) I started to just shake and cry. My mom held my hand, because I think she understood what was happening. Though, I must admit I'm not so sure what it was. The rest of the show amazed me, Popular of course my favorite, Defying Gravity being so inspiring, my heart leaping as Elphaba began to "fly". Gosh. I sobbed during "For Good" because I had to. After the show, JLT and Idina talked about what they were auctioning. We bought the signed poster, and a signed picture of JLT as Galinda. The two actresses hugged and joked about stuff. They offered a Wicked cookbook and everyone laughed and JLT got all serious and was like "That's not funny". Then, they tried to separate and something from JLTs Galinda dress was attached to Idina. JLT was like "and for 1 dollar you can detach us" of course the costume people began to run on stage, freaking out, but JLT fixed it herself. For 600 dollars they auctioned to hang out backstage and get a personalized answering machine thing from them. Of course, I didn't get it, but JLT was so funny she was like I could leave on that says "Hi this is Glinda, Don't call back!" and she did that in her high pitched glinda voice or like "Hi. This is Glinda. Doon't call back." in this serious manly voice. When it was time to leave, I glanced at the signs above the door: You are now leaving Oz, Reality Straight Ahead. I rushed to the stage door, where I actually pushed someone out of my way, and was in the front awaiting the stars. Joey Mcinture(Fiyero) was first. I got my picture and autograph with him. He was quite cute, and very sweet. I liked him. After about an hour, Idina came out. She had on a pink, puffy jacket. I got her autograph, and my mother tried to take pictures, but they are blurry. P.S. Hannah-Thank you for the instructions for stage door etiquette. At around 12:30, we finally finished, and went to this adorable place, Ellen's Stardust Diner. It was all 50s-esque, and the waiters and waitresses were 50s-clad(poodleskirts,etc.). Even cooler, they took turns singing, and they were all REALLY talented..obviously aspiring. That night, was the worst for my health. I was hacking away, and became really, sick. Fever, sweating,etc. My mom wanted to take me to the emergency room, but I refused. Next day, was our shopping day. We went to H&M where I got lots of cute stuff, then Bloomingdales where I got 3 pairs of jeans. My fever started to kick in, and I needed to lay down so I slept until that evening. We saw Forbidden Broadway. The theatre was soooo tiny, but the show was really funny. I was proud because I understood it all. That night, we saw Hairspray. Which ties with Wicked. It was soo fun, and cute. I wanted to sing along, but opted not to. In the end, during You Can't Stop the Beat, they told us all to stand up and dance, and stuff. I was just dying. I also got a signed poster from them. Oh yeah, one of those days, we were in Times Square. And the sun was shining on me. and a street performer was playing "Imagine" on his windpipe type instrument and I just stood there and absorbed it all. Sunday was my last day there. We visited Times Square once more, and I got some more stuff from Broadway New York. Then went to La Guardia. We were delayed 2 hours..boo. I miss New York. But I now know..more than ever, that I belong right there.